Different sociologists have taken to the study of suicide. Positivists and Interpretivists have different views about society, sociology and how to study suicide. Positivists believe that society can and should be studied scientifically and that sociology should model itself on the logic and methods of the natural sciences such as physics, whereas Interpretivists are interested in the meaning that suicide has for the deceased, and in the way that coroners label deaths as suicides. This essay will explore these various strengths and weaknesses of these approaches in explaining suicide.
Durkheim was one of the first sociologists to study suicide and he took a positivist approach. His study of suicide was a part of his project to demonstrate the validity of sociology as a subject. In his view, our behaviour is caused by social facts; social forces found in the structure of society. He identifies two social facts that determine the rate of suicide: social integration which refers to the extent an individual feels a sense of belonging to a group and obligation to its members and moral regulation which refers to the extent to which individual’s actions and desires are kept in check by norms and values. Durkheim argues the suicide rate is a social fact. Using quantitative data from official statistics Durkheim analysed the suicide rate from various European countries and noted four regular patterns. The suicide rate for any given society remained more or less constant over time; when the rates did change they coincided with other changes; different societies had different rates, however within a society the rates varied considerably between social groups. For Durkheim these patterns were evidence that suicide rates couldn’t simply be the result of the motives of individuals. Instead of giving a psychological explanation, Durkheim explains the suicide rate as the effect of social facts acting on the individual. In different societies these forces act with different...